those who have been in some high position outside and come here for
their retired life,

those of the same language,

and those who are aggressive and liable to be a nuisance.

Surprising, but true, just being able to speak good English
sometimes helps.

People in the powerful ones' own circle always find
it easier to get what they want even if it is a luxury, while those outside it
may not get even their justified needs fulfilled… Some of the current aspiring
busy­-bodies are given more and more power in spite of their unscrupulous
activities because they are the utility men for the authorities. Their
enthusiasm towards work obviously lies in their seeking to enlarge their power
base...

Perhaps the whole issue of Peter's book has come
about to highlight the declining values here which many of us have been
gradually getting accustomed to and even beginning to accept slothfully,
avoiding the inconvenience and work that it would take to at least express to
the Trustees our aspirations for better administrative policies from them.

‘Where are you from?’ is usually the first question
they ask when they are sizing you up. People’s surnames are usually a giveaway
but with mine, they don’t know whether I’m from Haryana or Howrah or somewhere else altogether. And so
they pry, some of the more earthy ones even ask our caste, and it took me a
while to figure out just why.

When I’d tell them I was from Delhi, they didn’t really know what that
meant. They thought, and rightly so, that no one can be originally from Delhi, it’s just this
dog-eat-dog place where people came for work, out of necessity. For them, the
capital city was all about wily bureaucrats, power brokers and fat cats who
weren’t to be trusted. And when they looked for people they could really talk
to, journalists who could be trusted, who’d present their perspective, it had
to be people who knew where they came from — who’d get their private jokes,
who’d understand the sentiments of their people. If they weren’t from the same
village, they’d at least have to speak the same language.

And that’s when I looked around and saw the various
regional packs that were at work in Parliament. You had the Thakur and the Bihar gang, which extends not just to politicians but
also to powerful bureaucrats. You have the South Indian journalists, with the
Mallu lobby being especially useful, but none of these can come close at this
moment to the much-hyped importance of the Bengali brigade.